If a plane goes down this month – call Speaker Boehner

Aug. 2, 2011 6:29 am

By louisehartmann

FAA workers are screwed. With the debt-limit deal out of the way – it’s time for Congress to resolve the FAA funding impasse right? No. Instead of figuring out a way to restore full funding to the agency in charge of making sure our airplanes don’t fall out of the sky – and also figuring out a way to get 4,000 furloughed FAA employees back to work – Republicans are going on vacation.

That’s right – they’re taking 5 weeks off – meaning the FAA will be sputtering along through Labor Day while Republicans yuck it up in their home districts. With the FAA shutdown – airline safety inspectors are working extended hours without pay – and $2.5 billion in transportation projects are on hold – meaning another 100,000 construction workers are out of a job too. Not only that – as Republicans scream about deficits – our government is losing out on $200 million a week in uncollected airline ticket taxes.

Let’s hope it never happens – but if a plane goes down this month – call Speaker Boehner.

Comments

I believe that we may be witnessing the unravelling of our government and while there are numerous other causes - Bankster mischief, etc. - the root cause is Peak Oil. Our government is not alone in its instability, as you are aware.

We may not even see a 2012 election. It may be time to look beyond conventional politics for a whole new perspective and set of solutions. We need to create local, self-sustaining institutions to maintain us in a climate of disintegrating rule of law, de-growth as the infinite growth paradigm fails, intertwined with the ultimate causal factor - reduced energy.

The infinite growth paradigm is the problem and always has been. Dependence on fossil fuels is the problem and always has been. These statements are similar because at their root, they are identical - infinite growth = cheap and expanding fossil fuel production. There is a 96% correspondence between CO2 emissions and economic growth.

To be relevant, Robert Reich must recognize Peak Oil and the failure of infinite growth.

Love your show - you're the smartest guy on the radio. I just think you need to hold everybody's feet to the Peak Oil fire.

Thom,
If your leader tells you to jump off a bridge to certain death would you?
Or would you think for yourself and say no.
If I heard you right this morning, you would reluctantly jump.
And that is mind-boggling ugly.

Really Thom, you're comparing US Congress members to the 18 Terrorists who crashed planes into the World Trade Center and crashed a plane in Pennsylvania. Have you no shame, have you lost all perspective?

First the Terrorist were not Americans and believed in their cause, no matter how warped it may be.

Second these congress members are Americans, and they are openly betraying this country, they are traders, the lowest most odious form of character. Nothing is more despicable than someone who declares to be your friend, then pulls the rug out from under you. They're backstabbing this country, and I'm far angrier at them then any terrorists who stand against America, for even though the terrorists are cowardly in their tactics, at least we know what to expect from them and know not to trust them. The actions of this current congress is going to cause more American misery and death then Al Qaeda will ever be able to do, and for what? 30 pieces of silver. At least Judas had tried to return the money after he realized the foolishness of his actions, our so call fellow Americans in the Congress happily ask for more.

Picture yourself in NAZI Germany in the 40s...or maybe in the Soviet Union in the 50s..."the police" comes knocking at your door to haul you down "for questioning"(yeah, right). Of course they are the authorities...they have guns...they are more powerful than you...what do you do? You go with them, of course.

When the NAZIs with guns and mean dogs that would rip you to shreds orders you to climb onto the box cars. What do you do? Just what the Jews did, of course, you get on the box cars.

Now, what do you do when, in 2011, the police comes knocking at your door...or maybe even they don't knock...they force their way into your house. You don't know if they are police...maybe some are plainclothes...it's dark...you're half asleep...what do you do?

The majority of "law abiding" people would say...do exactly what they say....hope to hell they really are the police and not some dope fiends who might slit your throats just for fun.

Police have often invaded the wrong houses for "drug busts" or other crimes. Innocent people have been killed just because the police made a mistake.

With a government and a criminal justice system that is continuing to show us that they are not much different from those "evil" "other countries" who didn't have "democracy" (although Germany was a democracy that became a dictatorship) are we much different from those cringing, huddling, victims of the Third Reich or those who found themselves freezing in some Soviet Gulag. Some might brag that they would resist and fight...but would they...really?

I think people would be much angrier if they knew the truth about 911...and stopped falling for "the official conspiracy theory". It is so easy to believe that some outside evil force was behind 911.

Talk about traitors....this really is sinister and evil....to use your own people as sacrificial victims in a false flag operation in order to convince the masses to give up their freedoms and pave the way for an illegal invasion of the Middle East and put the people in a bewildered and confused frame of mind that people would not be able to do much of anything about the economic crimes that had been committed against them.

Many people will probably never be convinced, no matter how much evidence is presented (or, lack of evidence to support the "official conspiracy theory"), that their own people, despite their overwhelming financial superiority, or holders of such honorable positions in our government, would never do such a thing! Well, it is indisputable that they sent thousands of our soldiers to die in the Middle East. And it is indisputable that the Bush regime lied to get us into committing that war crime. And it is indisputable that Obama has continued in Bush's path...which really makes him a war criminal and a liar as well. He did indicate that he would get us out of the Middle East.

Some people probably, still, have not even heard of the nano-thermite residue found in the dust samples taken right after the collapse of the WTC towers (one sample only 10 minutes after...the others were days and maybe a week later). But all samples contained the same amounts of nano-thermite and evidence of other explosives used in the demolition of the buildings. This was an inside job. Treason was committed against the American people! And if you look into history...this wasn't the first time...and probably won't be the last.

And now many high up officials know about it but will continue to cover it up because they are not any braver than anyone else would be if the police came knocking at your door....even if you believed that they were going to be hauled off to some prison camp to be tortured.

We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Examination of four of these samples, collected from separate sites, is reported in this paper. These red/gray chips show marked similarities in all four samples. One sample was collected by a Manhattan resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two the next day, and a fourth about a week later. The properties of these chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The red material contains grains approximately 100 nm across which are largely iron oxide, while aluminum is contained in tiny plate-like structures. Separation of components using methyl ethyl ketone demonstrated that elemental aluminum is present. The iron oxide and aluminum are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring at approximately 430 °C, far below the normal ignition temperature for conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today.guest.html <-- on one story here he says Biden "calls us terrorists" and says he means Biden called the "tea party" that, thus he means he, rush, is in the tea party. Thus it's all operation chaos, the first priority is destroy destroy destroy obama and lie. No taxes for this sociopath though he makes 10 million or more a year.

Could use some things to say back to these points of Rush because then maybe some of us can try to wake up our friends who are brainwashed by him.

What these people fail to understand, is that every cut made in Washington (or even at the state, county and city levels) increases unemployment. But then again, maybe that's what they want going into the next election cycle- "see, I told you Obama wouldn't fix the economy!".

I don't know whether the teapartyer are stupid or traitors. Either way, they're destroying America. The stock market is already tanking. The republican party is gone. They never were, for the most part, level. They have had to work to convince people that getting screwed is good for them. Now, they will have to buy into the teaparty who are in charge of America since Obama has abdicated.

Americans are either stupid or stupider or maybe even stupidest! Does no one remember 1937 when we thought the depression was over and decided it was time to cut back? It took the war in Europe to force the government to start spending on a large enough scale to complete the recovery. At the end of the war our debt was something like 100% of GDP and with everyone working and paying taxes, we paid it off in just a few years.

100,000 construction workers may be laid off, but that doesn't mean that the government is off the hook for the construction contracts. These construction companies will bill the FAA for the down time. They have equipment, material, overhead, etc. Any court will award them any costs incurred. This will cost the taxpayers Millions!!!! Good thing we're rolling in dough.

I don't really see this as a problem. Republicans don't like government, no problem: they can't use roads built with government funding, can't go into buildings built with government funding, can't get paychecks from the government they work for, can't drive cars or use any other consumer goods that were manufactured by companies that have ever gotten tax breaks or paid taxes, can't fly out of airports that were built with government funds, can't drink water from government-owned or government-funded water resevoirs, and can't eat food grown by farmers who get government subsidies. They can't get any retirement funds from the government, or government-paid health care plans. They can't use banks or investment house services that have ever gotten even one penny of bailout money or other government funds. They can't use telephones or telephone services made or provided by companies that have gotten government funding at any time. They can't wear clothing made by companies that have ever gotten government funding or subsidies. Screw them, let them go live naked in the wilderness and eat dirt. As long as that wilderness isn't owned by a government.

If you were the father of a 16 year old son and this boy told you that if you did not give him the keys to the family car and $200 in cash he would burn down your mother's house with her inside, what would you do?

You could call his bluff. However, what do you do if you know that your son suffers from a mental illness and you believed he would burn down your mother's house.

This may sound like a crazy hypothetical event, however it is very close to what the Republicans in the House of Representatives said to President Barack Obama. Speaker John Boehner announced to the public that he and his Republican House members were going to hold the nation's debt limit hostage until they received the spending cuts that would help their friends in the private sector. In particular the Republican's wanted to gut the Environmental Protection Agency so that the oil company's would not have to spend money to make their workplaces safe for living creatures.

I believe the Progressive Democrats will make the Republicans pay for their evil ways in the 2012 elections. I believe the Progressive Democrats will raise enough money to chase all of those evil Repubicans out of office. Even if you believe that what the Republican's wanted to do was good policy, which I do not believe, then it is still not the proper way to win their argument. Just as in the hypothetical story about the teenaged boy, it is not morally correct to use extortion to get your way just becasue you cannot win the argument on its merits.

The Republican Party as become a terrorist organization. Progressive Democrats must work hard to show the rank and file members that the leaders they sent to Congress do not care about them; that they only care about the corporations that bought their seat for them. I believe if the typical Republican voter understood how immoral their elected officials have behaved that they would replace them with someone more trustworthy.

A point of correction. It is Airport Safety Inspectors who are working without pay, not "airline safety inspectors". Since you are a pilot, I'm sure you've met an Aviation Safety Inspector or two, who work with airlines, airmen and aircraft. Aviation Safety Inspectors are paid from Operations & Maintenance funds; however, the funds in question are Facilities & Equipment (F&E), Research, Engineering & Development (RE&D), and Airport Improvement Program (AIP).

And..the Rethuglicans or Tea Baggers can't use government funding of private industrial pharmaceuticals or other government funded programs. These private companies benefit by government funding, then hold the patent, and rip everyone off for the exorbitant prices that their monopolies demand...that nobody but the rich (Republicans) can afford. So let the Rethuglicans go without the bad old government that they complain of. Old Rush Limpballs would have to go into a private detox center because he would no longer have access to all those drugs. And let the Republican'ts suffer, then die of treatable diseases because they hate government so much.

By the way, how much do you think it costs the US to hunt down the remaining 3000 to 4000 Al Qaida around the world? there sure aren't many in the Middle East anymore. According to the man who was the former Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, the US has been spending about $20,000,000 (that's 20 million dollars) for EACH so-called "terrorist". Mr. Blair realizes that the current path of the US is futile and wasteful of taxpayers dollars and is part of the reason why we have such a horrible economic problem now.

from the video interview by Leslie Stahl at Aspen Institute. This video can be seen at:
Monday, August 1 2011 - 9/11 Consequences
Former Intel Chief: Call Off The Drone War (And Maybe the Whole War on Terror)

One thing that should happen to the Republican Party...... Every Post Office in the country should have mug shots of the 86 freshmen "terrorists" that infiltrated and over threw our Govt.

Also a web site should be dedicated to the Representatives names and faces with easy to understand summarys of why how they voted, such as for the Ryan plan, impacts negatively, 98% of us. Ads generated from this web site could be sent to newspapers from each reps district. Personal stories of job loss and ruin could be added to highlight the realities of their reckless behavior. Just think, how many kids have been heart broke over losing their home, moving away from friends, the pet dog ends up in a animal shelter due to the rental apartment not allowing pets.....etc.

Nixon committed treason in 68 Its in LBJ tapes as Thom noted. I believe GOP / Tea Baggers would do so as well if needed to crush Obama.. IF a plane crashes or a bridge collapses -a road gives way .. Baggers will be happy to know how much money the saved . TEA Baggers must go and they will . Yes GOP will lose seats. Gov's like Walker will be recalled. Some legislators have already been recalled. Tea bagger GOP has declared war on middle class, on workers, on womens rights, on public education , low & mid income seniors who rely on SS / Medicare to live .Tea Baggers only concern has been that Corps keep their giant tax loopholes & subsides . Massive Corp Welfare - trillions wasted on wars - GOP RYan hatchet job on medicare is our real problem . Our economy- kids education, disabled, SS is at great risk. Long failed unfunded wars , corp tax cuts lies, greed - Reagan GOP deregulation- policies that favor wealth , jobs going overseas caused 75 % of our debt. Reaganomics deregulation of Robber Barons - Bush 2008 crash / Paulson Gift Horse to Wall ST- AIG and foreign banks were a disaster .Crooks got 100 cents on the dollar for their toxic worthless JUNK and we even gave them zero interest loans with NO safe guards for taxpayer money. NADA We were duped scammed screwed every which way. Yet voters STILL gave congress to the Tea Baggers !! Boy US has really been dumbed down since I went to school .

Oh, if it were only so....that it is just the bad old Republicans...and that Obama is hog-tied and that he has no other choice but to go along for now...and that if he is reelected and all of the Republicans are thrown out of office so that we can all live happily ever after in our promised land of progressive happiness! I am way past trying to believe in anything like that. I do not believe that Obama is without sin here..in fact I believe he is guilty as sin. He even started off plotting to undermine the social programs in 2009. What you will get if you reelect Obama is the same Obama we got when we elected him the first time. He has proven what he is by his actions...over and over again. He has said a lot of things but actions are what proves who one is. Words are just the lies that politicians use to beguile their constituents.

As far as the Republicans threatening to hold the debt limit hostage....it was just a trick..by both the Republicans and Obama (one in the same as far as I am concerned) ...to fool the people...the old people on social security that it was vital to steal from them to save the country. It was all about making the rich richer by destroying social security, the other social programs, and put the entire tax burden on everyone else....the middle class and poor people. Did you know that idiot Rick Perry wants to shift the tax burden down to those who make under $9,000 a year? Jesus must be rolling in his tomb because people, especially the rich, sure didn't read that part about turning over the money changers tables yet they claim they are Christian.

The Republicans would just be hurting themselves if they had refused to raise the debt limit...think of all those banks that were getting a 1/4% fed interest rate and turning right around and gushing our money out of the country into bonds in the BRIC countries that yields 5-3/4%. If interest rates go up it would not be as profitable to the banks. They would be hurting themselves.

Oh, and so Moodys rating service is now giving a triple A rating (but with a cautionary note)? For one thing who really gives a Flying Spaghetti Monster about what the proven corrupt credit rating agencies say. They've already lied about the valuation of CDOs on the junk mortgages. Why should anyone believe them now? In my book, albeit a very small entity compared to the big time bankster gangsters....the credit worthiness of the US is junk status...not AAA...if they can't pay their bills to their own citizens on social security then their trustworthiness isn't worth spit. Michael Hudson, the economist, calls it a junk economics and I believe him.

Palindomedary: Sadly I think this country will have to totally hit rock bottom, much like addicts, before any meaningful change takes place. A silver lining to the recent vote is that it has moved us closer to this hell.

I believe that word associations come from the sub-conscious. I also believe the sub-conscious recoginizes truth before the conscious (personality) is able to accept it. The phrase "tea baggers" and "carpetbaggers" have much more in common than I have seen examined. I think that anyone who has associated themselves with this movement is seeking to position themselves to profit from the destruction of this country. I do not think all members of this movement are conscious of this, but they are being trained to be sharks, and have just been offered up the smell of blood. This is a highly dangerous element.

As Jim Hightower said "The bluebird of happiness....
is now....what's for dinner!"

2950-10k: But who are the "addicts" are you referring to? The bankster and Wall Streetster money and power addicts or the ones who are addicted to food and shelter who only have power in numbers except they are easy to divide and conquer?

People in the Tea Party movement are not the enemy. They are not all evil and are no more manipulated than liberals, conservatives, republicans, and/or democrats. Furthermore, many I have heard speak are very patriotic and would be appalled that someone believes they are trying to position themselves to benefit from the destruction of America. Frankly, I wonder if people who believe these blanket, negative statements about Tea Partiers, are forming their opinions from first hand experience and knowledge, or from the words of some pundit pontificating party line propaganda. Imagine Joe Biden saying Tea Party people are terrorists. It is a disgrace. If Tea Partiers said that about the President, they'd probably be put in jail.

Bush Sr., and every president since, has been trying to take America "global". That mindset and Islamo- Marxism is what we ought to be fighting - together. Demonizing patriots in the Tea Party and implying they are mindless pawns brings to mind, "it takes one to know one". dh23, I am not attacking anyone, just expressing an opinion in what I hope is a constructive manner. I, for one, will not be putting my trust in any politician for a long, long time to come; especially after the disgraceful display in Washington FOR YEARS. The recent, pathetic, mind-boggling episode, was just the latest chapter.

Ah....poor Tea Bawlers.....if you want to know what is really behind an organization...just look at who funds them. Oh....the Koch Brothers? Oh....who has largely funded Obama? Oh, Wall Steet? Maybe we voters need to start voting for the least funded candidate for a change. If we vote "money" we will be exploited by "money". Time to show that money cannot by our votes...vote for the alternatives to the entrenched, arrogant, two party "good cop...bad cop" system of exploitation.

But don't make the mistake of voting for the Tea Party or the Americans Elect candidate....don't trust that one at all...I've looked into who founded that organization....and I sure don't trust them.

Palindromedary: I'm referring to all those blindly accepting the incremental economic slide, and will only take notice of the situation when things get to the point where their homeless and broke. At this point I would think people might pay some attention to meaningful change... like DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM!

For a quick reverse, put a section into the revised FAA legislation that reads "Employers can treat employees any way they damn well please." Run that one up the MSM flagpole and see how long it lasts when the real agenda is put out there without makeup, costumes, smiles, handshakes and kiss-your-baby concern for the baby's next meal.

I crave uncensored world news. Does not the rest of the world care what the insane republicans are doing? Like taking a vacation right now? There has to be news we are not getting about what the world thinks of the obscene behavior of the rightists in USA. If they're screwing their own country, they must be screwing the countries they hide their money in also. Reuters, Al-jazeerah, etc. must have uncensored news of the ugly people destroying America. It just is really hard to find. I'm still looking.

"Thom Hartmann seeks out interesting subjects from such disparate outposts of curiosity that you have to wonder whether or not he uncovered them or they selected him."

—Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, producer, and environmental activist

From The Thom Hartmann Reader:

"In an age rife with media-inspired confusion and political cowardice, we yearn for a decent, caring, deeply human soul whose grasp of the problems confronting us provides a light by which we can make our way through the quagmire of lies, distortions, pandering, and hollow self-puffery that strips the American Dream of its promise. How lucky we are, then, to have access to the wit, wisdom, and willingness of Thom Hartmann, who shares with us here that very light, grown out of his own life experience."

—Mike Farrell, actor, political activist, and author of Just Call Me Mike and Of Mule and Man

From Cracking the Code:

"No one communicates more thoughtfully or effectively on the radio airwaves than Thom Hartmann. He gets inside the arguments and helps people to think them through—to understand how to respond when they’re talking about public issues with coworkers, neighbors, and friends. This book explores some of the key perspectives behind his approach, teaching us not just how to find the facts, but to talk about what they mean in a way that people will hear."

—to understand how to respond when they’re talking about public issues with coworkers, neighbors, and friends. This book explores some of the key perspectives behind his approach, teaching us not just how to find the facts, but to talk about what they mean in a way that people will hear."